Minggu, 03 April 2011

William Berke - Gun Grit (1936)

Plot: Directed by William Berke (under the pseudonym of "Lester Williams"), Gun Grit was the last of four above-average B-Western starring former silent lead Jack Perrin. Perrin, who also co-produced with Berke, played Bob Blake, an FBI agent masquerading as a ranch hand in order to infiltrate a gang of city gangsters terrorizing a Western community. Tired of dodging federal agents in Los Angeles, Mack (Roger Williams), Looey (Phil Dunham) and Dopey (Ralph Peters) escape to a small Western community where they proceed to threaten the local ranchers, gang-land style, into paying protection money. After the expected ridin', shootin' and sluggin', undercover agent Blake, with ample assistance from his horse Starlight and young Dave Hess (stunt-man David Sharpe), manages to deliver the gangsters to the city authorities. His job finished, Blake offers pretty rancher's daughter Jean Hess (Ethel Beck) a little "protection" of his own. Filmed at the former Tiffany studios in Hollywood, Gun Grit managed to combine two popular genres -- the gangster film and Western melodrama -- without sacrificing the essence of either.